The Budget Deal May Collapse

Commentary ^ | 04/12/2011 | John Podhertz

[OldDeckHand]

The big news today is that the $38.5 billion in budget cuts announced with such fanfare on Friday night mostly aren’t real. A good deal of it involves money from previous years and previous budgets that hasn’t actually been spent. As the AP puts it, the budget deal is

financed with a lot of one-time savings and cuts that officially ‘score’ as savings to pay for spending elsewhere,

-snip-

The total amount actually cut appears to be somewhere between $8 and $14 billion.

The politics here are very complicated now. On the one hand, polls suggest the public is overwhelmingly in favor of there having been a deal, around 60 percent or so. On the other, politically engaged people on both the Right and the Left are profoundly upset by what they take to be unprincipled caving on the part of the leaders of the two parties.

-snip-

And then, all of a sudden, there will be a shutdown. And no plan to end it. And make no mistake—the public will blame the GOP.

[OldDeckHand]

Podhertz is right. A budget impasse and resulting shutdown, especially if it's protracted, will be blamed entirely on the GOP. This will give Obama his much-needed "Timothy McVeigh" moment that he needs to wrest control of the narrative, again.

However, I'm sure that won't stop the usual suspects from screaming the oft-repeated refrain of, "Shut it Down" while they completely ignore the very real political reality that will result.

[Sporke]

I don’t give a damn if the GOP does get blamed, they need to shut it down.

They lied to us, not once, but several times. This is Boehners fault for not sticking to what was promised and for making nonexistent cuts.

I for one am sick and tired of being played, so they can either do the right thing now, or pay for it later.

They can all go to hell....

[petercooper]

Once again, the “R’s” prove they have no testicles. Spending originates in the House. There should not be any R votes for this disaster of a budget.

[bwc2221]

So it appears that Sarah Palin, Rush Limbaugh and Mark Levine were right and Karl Rove and the rest of the Republican Establishment cheerleaders were wrong.

For someone who is a “complete idiot,” it's amazing how much of the time Sarah Palin is right./sarc. Like 85%+.

[OldDeckHand]

"I don’t give a damn if the GOP does get blamed, they need to shut it down."

Sure, very smart. Do you often cut your nose off to spite your face, only to find out later that it was the smart thing to do?

The GOP gets blamed for this, and you can say goodbye to someone replacing Obama, you can say goodbye to taking back the Senate, and you might even say goodbye to a Republican-controlled House.

Sometimes the political naivete of people is breathtaking.

[bray]

Time to trade Cry Baby Bohner for Bachmann

Pray for America

[Buckeye McFrog]

so Obama gets the both of both worlds....exposes his compromising RINO partners to Tea Party scorn, AND gets the Government Shutdown he’s been hoping for

[GSWarrior]

In what century did we reach the point that nothing coming from Washington should be believed?

In what century will we reach the point where government is irrelevant?

[Mikey_1962]

"The big news today is that the $38.5 billion in budget cuts announced with such fanfare on Friday night mostly aren’t real. A good deal of it involves money from previous years and previous budgets that hasn’t actually been spent."

Maybe some of the savings are in fact Belair Coupons and S&H green stamps.

[OldDeckHand]

"There should not be any R votes for this disaster of a budget."

This isn't a "budget". It's a continuing resolution. The time to pass a budget was last year. There is STILL a budget battle for this year to come.

You can have that debate with all the blood on the floor you like, without shutting down the government and suffering all the political damage that comes with it.

[bray]

You mean if we shut er down the media is going to hate us for a change? Well that cinches it, SHUT ER DOWN. They hate us anyway.

The people will love us for someone being serious about their tax $$. That would begin the landslide election of Palin and every Tea Party candidate.

Pray for America

[andy58-in-nh]

You're correct. As much as it ought to anger anyone with an ounce of fiscal responsibility, there is no way the Republicans can win this battle - none. They were set up for it, even before last year's election, when the Democrats cleverly but irresponsibly refused to pass a Federal budget.

The real battle is for this year's budget, and that is one the Republicans can absolutely win, if they are willing to simply claim victory for the cuts the Democrats have already accepted, and move on.

[blackdog]

Boehner should offer three options.

#1)Pass a version of Ryan's budget with no less in cuts. #2)Shut down the government with a joint leadership conference with Reid, Obamma, Boehner, and Pelosi where they all publicly share the entire blame. #3) If #1 & #2 are not going to happen, drop the Obamma records bomb, including the state of Hawaii election official who declared Obamma ineligible to run for president in October 2008, and hold congressional hearings on the matter. Start with about 500 subpoenas. Exactly who in the Obamma administration has any records and facts to present during testimony? Obamma locked em all up by executive order. Napalm the whole place.

[RitaOK]

The frustration is palpable, but I am hoping for the new freshman congressman to hold the line. There are real powers working over time to smoke the truth. No one seems to have the academic talent it takes to unravel debt, taxation, import/export, world bank, Fed Reserve, the Soros effect, etc. It seems Paul Ryan gets it, but he can not carry the load alone, do the politics, and at the same time tutor the nation by himself. There is a snarled mess that remains out of sight, under the rug and behind the walls of politics, having to do with nothing but fleecing Americans out of their money. It is causing a dangerous daze among the people who are literally crying out for leadership and clarity.

[OldDeckHand]

"so Obama gets the both of both worlds....exposes his compromising RINO partners to Tea Party scorn, AND gets the Government Shutdown he’s been hoping for"

That's pretty much it. And, it's all thanks to Obama's partners in crime in the mainstream media. Like dutiful adherents of Leni Riefenstahl, the AP and WaPo and NY Times print harmonious articles telling the right how they "were had" by Obama. And then, as if on a magical cue, the plebes on the right take the bait and make Obama's orgasmic political fantasy a reality - shutdown, here we come.

The left continues to play chess why the right-wing plays checkers, or something even worse.

[Sporke]

“Sometimes the political naivete of people is breathtaking”

It has nothing to do with being naive. Boehner knew he was lying when he made the deal and he flat did not care.

How many decades have we been lied to by POS politicians like him? I have had enough and then some. If it were up to me I’d shut things down, and leave it down, for months, until people take to the streets and demand a total replacement of every single politician in DC.

Luckily, I think we’re pretty close to that now.

[McGruff]

You're Fired!

[org.whodat]

The GOP has been caught red handed telling flyover land to piss off. What new about that???? Voodoo budget cuts from voodoo budgets.

[Jim from C-Town]

The numbers they spend are so huge that absolutely nobody knows how much money they actually have or where and how they spend it.

[kevslisababy]

The polls out today gave the majority of the “success” of the deal to Obama. The republicans can’t win for losing, so they might as well bite the bullet and put the thumbscrews to the dems. I’m for shutting it down too. $8-14 billion “cuts” is playing us for fools.

The bottom line is we simply can’t afford the path we are on. Someone has to be the adult and do the hard stuff.